Any army suffers heavy losses not only in war, but also in peacetime. Expensive weapons break down during exercises or are written off as unnecessary. There are known cases when multimillion-dollar military equipment was "destroyed" due to the negligence of the military. Of course, the human factor has not been canceled, but sometimes such situations look so absurd that it’s no laughing matter.
1. Captain, we have a problem
In October 2018, one unpleasant incident occurred with the US Air Force landing ship Gunston Hall. During a strong storm in the Norwegian Sea, the landing boat, which was in one of the cargo holds of the ship, set off to "rip-off". The multi-ton steel boat on the waves began to be thrown from side to side, destroying the expensive equipment of the ship. Several crew members and marines were also injured.
The total damage from the incident was estimated at several million dollars. And everything happened due to the fact that the tally crew of the ship did not bother to properly secure the boat in the hold. As a result, the Gunston Hall ship did not make it to NATO international exercises, severely damaging the reputation of the US Air Force. By the way, a few centuries ago, a poorly secured cannon could cost a sailing ship's life; in the case of the American ship, the sailors got off with only a slight fright.
2. Fly the rocket away
In the past year, not only sailors, but also military pilots managed to distinguish themselves. In the early morning of August, a Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon 2000 fighter was performing routine patrols near the Estonian border. Everything went according to plan, but unexpectedly the pilot accidentally "fired" an AIM-120 air-to-air missile worth about two million dollars. This combat vehicle weighing 150 kilograms and 3.5 meters long is designed to destroy enemy aircraft at a distance of hundreds of kilometers.
All the processes of launching and flying the rocket went off with a bang, and it flew over 80 kilometers until it landed in a swampy area of one of the Estonian reserves. The exact location of the projectile was never determined. The rocket flew several kilometers from the Estonian city of Tartu with a population of 100 thousand people. Taking munitions a slightly different course, human casualties could not have been avoided. According to official data, the fighter pilot could not explain the reason for his actions. The soldier was accused of negligence and got off with a fine in the amount of a week's salary.
3. I'm a sniper at my mom
Another curious incident with aviation equipment occurred at a Belgian military airfield. An F-16 maintenance technician accidentally pressed the wrong button and performed "unscheduled" testing of the aircraft's armament. A powerful 20 mm machine-gun burst followed. incendiary shells.
As always happens in such cases - the weapon has found its target. It was the same F-16 fighter, which was just preparing for takeoff and had already started the engine. Fortunately, the pilot managed to get out of the cockpit in time a minute before the explosion. According to Novate.ru, two employees of the airfield were injured as a result of the incident. An investigation by the Belgian Security Directorate estimated the total damage at $ 20 million.
4. Car bombing
It seems that the US military has a common problem with the fastening of military equipment. So, during a seemingly regular landing of the famous "winged" landing on one of the German military bases, a very curious incident occurred. Together with the paratroopers, military off-road vehicles "Humvees" descended on parachutes. And if all the soldiers successfully landed on the training ground, then the three cars were much less fortunate.
This event was captured on video by the paratroopers who were near the training ground. By laughing off-screen, one can understand that the situation is out of the ordinary. The video clearly shows how poorly fixed vehicles literally fly out of flying bombers, without having time to deploy their parachutes. Considering that the cost of one Humvee reaches 250 thousand dollars, it is unlikely that it will be possible to get by with an outfit out of turn.
5. Successfully warmed canned food
In May 2017, a video circulated on the Internet, where an officer scolds a confused Russian soldier who accidentally set fire to a brand new BTR-82A. As it turned out later, the private got hungry and decided to warm up the canned food from the dry ration set. To do this, he made a fire near the armored vehicle. The flames quickly spread to camouflage nets and hay, which covered the APC. An armored personnel carrier worth 28 million rubles could not be extinguished, and it completely burned down.
At first, the guilty soldier faced several years of imprisonment and heavy fines, but later it was decided to mitigate the sentence to six months of service in a disciplinary military unit. The soldier served his term in the disbat and was successfully demobilized last year. However, many have a reasonable question, how could an armored personnel carrier so easily burn out from a simple fire? It turns out that in order to destroy armored vehicles, you do not need anti-tank mines, grenades and machine guns, you just need to set it on fire.
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